Polio in developing countries

Poliomyelitis, or polio, is one of the world’s most enduring diseases.

It is highly contagious and tends to target children younger than five years of age. Polio attacks a person’s nervous system and causes paralysis in one out of every 200 cases. Among those paralysed, 5% to 10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilized.

The disease spreads from person to person most often through contact with the feces of an infected person or by ingesting contaminated water and food. People who live in communities with poor hygiene and sanitation conditions have an elevated risk of infection.

Before a polio vaccine was introduced in 1955, the disease was prevalent in Canada and affected thousands of children. Canada is now polio-free.

The race to eradicate polio by 2026

The goal of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative’s (GPEI) is to eradicate polio by 2026. It is a partnership between:

the World Health Organization (WHO)
Rotary International
the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention
UNICEF
the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Since its establishment in 1988, the GPEI has achieved significant results.

The number of polio cases has been reduced by 99.99 %. This is a drop from an estimated 350,000 cases per year in more than 125 countries, down to 6 reported cases in 2021 in the final two remaining endemic countries (Pakistan, Afghanistan).

Of the 3 strains of wild poliovirus (type 1, type 2 and type 3), wild poliovirus type 2 was eradicated in 1999 and wild poliovirus type 3 was eradicated in 2020.

Despite the strong progress towards eradicating the disease, there is still difficulty in interrupting poliovirus transmission in Pakistan and Afghanistan. This demonstrates the importance of providing adequate surveillance, high levels of immunization coverage and the ability to respond quickly to outbreaks.

A plan to eliminate polio

The road map to eradicate polio by 2026 has two main goals:

Goal One: Permanently interrupt all polio virus transmission in endemic countries; and,
Goal Two: Stop transmission and prevent outbreaks in non-endemic countries.

Find out more about the Polio Eradication Strategy 2022–2026 (PDF, 84 pages, 8.8 MB).

What is Canada doing to help contain polio?

Canada was the first bilateral donor to the GPEI and has disbursed over CAD $940 million since 2000. In May 2020, Canada announced a four-year contribution of $190 million to GPEI. This global support has helped ensure that:

surveillance systems are able to rapidly detect any new cases that emerge
that every last child is reached with the polio vaccine
that health workers have the capacity to respond to and control any outbreaks as soon as they arise
the introduction of the inactive polio vaccine is supported

Afghanistan

Canada supports polio eradication efforts in Afghanistan through the WHO and UNICEF. This project will:

Ensure more children are protected from polio by increasing national polio vaccination coverage by carrying out household visits to vaccinate all children in target populations;
Train and build the capacity of front-line workers;
Conduct regular house-to-house visits and engage with community influencers to increase knowledge and practice in children's healthcare and polio vaccination;
Implement and strengthen surveillance to rapidly detect the circulation of poliovirus.

Pakistan

Canada supports the WHO and UNICEF to stop transmission of the poliovirus in Pakistan with a focus on:

increasing the number of children immunized
enhancing community acceptance and the security of health workers, including female vaccinators, delivering the vaccine
recruiting and training community-based vaccinators, particularly women, to help access hard to reach communities

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